Entries by Mark

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Little Learners: Get Ready for World Bee Day!

Little Learners: Get Ready for World Bee Day!

World Bee Day is a wonderful opportunity for families and supervised children to get involved in something meaningful, fun, and full of learning opportunities.Little learners, get ready – it’s almost time to buzz into action for World Bee Day! The annual event arrives in May and it’s a brilliant opportunity for children and families to get involved in something meaningful, fun, and full of learning opportunities.

Bees are amazing little helpers, whether in gardens, parks or the countryside — but they need our help too! World Bee Day is a chance for children to discover the magic of these fascinating creatures, learn more about the natural world, and start to build early environmental awareness. They can get proactive too. Whether by planting wildflowers, spotting bees in the garden, or creating bee-inspired arts and crafts, even our tiniest learners can join in the buzz. Read on to learn more about this fun, educational, and hugely worthwhile event, which takes place each May.

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Primary School Offers Day – a Guide for Parents

Primary School Offers Day – a Guide & Options for Parents

Most families find out if children have received an offer for their preferred primary school in mid-April.When April is on the horizon, there is a buzz amongst parents whose children will receive school offers that month. It’s quite a milestone in the lives of families as it’s the time they’ll find out if their children have received an offer for their top school choice. If not, will they be offered another “preferred” school listed lower on their application? It will often have felt like a long wait to find out the results, too, with families having applied in mid-January or potentially months earlier. Because we are an early years nursery, today’s guide focuses on primary school offers. We’ll explain in detail when to expect your child’s primary school offer, criteria that may have affected it, and your options if you’re not happy with the school place offered. To keep things as simple as possible, we’ll concentrate on applications for a standard school start date in the September term (rules and dates for ‘in-year’ applications are slightly different). If your child is due to start primary school this year, take a look.

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Children’s Activity Ideas for World Wildlife Day

Children's Activity Ideas for World Wildlife Day

World Wildlife Day arrives in early March each year — just around the corner at the time of writing. The annual event is hugely important and very worthwhile. It is also a great opportunity to inspire children to get more interested in the natural world. By doing so, they will benefit wild animals and plants — as well as themselves through fun, learning and discovery. What’s more, many of the nature-inspired activities that we’ll suggest today are totally free.

Spending time in and around nature is incredibly good for children and World Wildlife Day offers families many opportunities to get much closer to it. As well as being great fun, such activities can open children’s eyes to humanity’s impact on the planet and help them understand the importance of looking after nature’s incredible flora and fauna. Learning about the plight of some of the Earth’s wild animals and plants will also nurture a greater respect for the natural world. It will help to encourage greener values, greater empathy, and a sense of responsibility in even the youngest children. It is also likely to instil in them a love for the great outdoors and encourage outdoor play, which is also hugely beneficial to children. With all that in mind, let’s dive into what World Wildlife Day stands for and then explore some of the children’s activities inspired by the initiative. Families right across the UK can take part, explore and discover. In so doing, they will self-improve, become more responsible citizens, and evolve into more effective stewards of this irreplaceable planet.

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Children Get Ready for National Storytelling Week!

Children Get Ready for National Storytelling Week!

National Storytelling Week for 2025 begins on Saturday the 1st of February and ends on Sunday the 9th.With the start of the new year now behind us, it’s time for children to get ready to take part in National Storytelling Week. This year it begins on Saturday the 1st of February and ends on Sunday the 9th. It’s a wonderful initiative that brings children and families together to use their imaginations, get creative, and entertain one another. What better time of the year to do that than during mid-winter? National Storytelling Week is perfectly timed to be a fabulous antidote to cold, blustery, winter days and is a wonderful way for children to escape through the power of the mind.

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Winter Nature Hunt — a Fun, Educational Activity for Children (Free Reference Sheet!)

Winter Nature Hunt — a Fun, Educational Activity for Children (with Free Reference Sheet!)

With the season of winter arriving in December, new opportunities for outdoor activities arise for children of all ages. And, as nature and outdoor play are so beneficial for children, we thought a winter nature hunt would be a great idea (cool even!). With that in mind, we’ve put together a free, downloadable, reference sheet of 20 things for children to look out for during this season. Despite the colder temperatures at this stage of the year, if children are wrapped up in warm clothes and suitably supervised by an adult, there is still lots for them to enjoy, discover, and learn from. That’s even more true for children still in their early years. Nature is a huge educator and is often stunningly beautiful too. A winter nature hunt is therefore a great excuse to get them outdoors, exploring, discovering, learning and simply having fun!

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Glowing Ofsted Feedback for Little Acorns Nursery

Glowing Ofsted Feedback for Little Acorns Nursery, Chorley

Our post today spotlights some of the many glowing comments made by the Ofsted inspector following her recent visit.Today we look at the wonderful Ofsted report published recently for Little Acorns Nursery in Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley. Ofsted is The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. Their inspector visited this fabulous Lancashire childcare setting in late August and released its official report a month later on 25 September 2024. Our post today spotlights some of the many glowing comments made by the inspector therein, following her visit. It also highlights the reasoning for ‘good provider’ ratings across all areas of the Ofsted report. Take a look and you’ll see why babies, children under five, and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities absolutely thrive at Little Acorns.

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Applying For a Primary School Place: a Guide for Parents (Time-Sensitive!)

Applying For a Primary School Place: a Guide for Parents (Time-Sensitive!)

If your child is 3 or has just turned 4, it’s time for you to apply for their primary school place.If your child is 3 or, at the latest, has just turned 4, it’s time for you to apply for their primary school place. What’s more, you only have until about mid-January to do so. That’s all true whether you intend them to start school at 4 or leave it until they’re 5. In today’s guide, we explain the rules around applying for a primary school place, the key dates you need to know, what to expect, and the various options open to you and your child.

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Free Childcare for Children Aged 9 Months+ (for Eligible Working Families in England)

Free Childcare for Children Aged 9 Months+ (for Eligible Working Families Living in England)

Since September 2024, eligible children as young as 9 months have been able to access free childcare in England.With September 2024 arriving, eligible children aged as young as 9 months can now access free childcare in England. The new childcare ‘hours’ are available where working families are eligible for the support and, in tandem, where local childcare providers are set up with appropriate staffing ratios and capacity. The good news, however, is that Little Acorns Nursery, in Clayton-le-Woods, supports the new scheme. It’s therefore with great pleasure that we’re now beginning to welcome children as young as just 9 months of age for free childcare hours at the Chorley setting.

In today’s guide, we’ll explain who is eligible and how much free childcare they can access right now — and in a year’s time when the scheme expands further.

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Dyslexia in Children – Frequently Asked Questions

Dyslexia in Children - Frequently Asked Questions

Today's article should help parents more easily recognise the possible signs of dyslexia in children.As a condition that affects children’s reading and writing abilities, Dyslexia is something that can significantly hold little ones back. If not diagnosed and addressed in good time, it can have a knock-on effect that adversely affects the education and potentially whole lives of people affected. It’s therefore important to learn what to look out for so as to recognise the possible signs of dyslexia in children should they occur. With that in mind, today’s article explores the answers to frequently asked questions about dyslexia so as to explain what dyslexia is, how it affects children and adults, what to look out for, and what to do to mitigate its potentially harmful effects.

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Let’s Get to Know Butterflies – An Educational Nature Activity for Kids

Let's Get to Know Butterflies – An Educational Nature Activity for Kids (with Free Poster!)

With the UK’s Big Butterfly Count happening from roughly the second half of July right through to early August, we thought now was an excellent time to release our free butterfly poster for families to download. This is designed to encourage children and families to get outdoors to see how many of the UK’s most commonly seen butterflies they can see and identify. Our identification poster features 36 of the 59 butterfly species found in Britain (we have excluded butterflies that families are unlikely to see as some are quite rare or limited to small areas of the nation). That’s a much more comprehensive number of butterfly species than surveyed in the Big Butterfly Count (just 19 types of butterfly and 2 daytime-flying moths are included in that survey this year). We therefore wholeheartedly encourage children and families to download our free butterfly poster today, so they can get started on getting to know British butterflies. It’s educational as well as being a wonderful way to get children outdoors to enjoy the fresh air and all the profound benefits that nature will bring them.